The technology disclosed herein generally relates to Computed Tomography (CT) imaging systems. More specifically, the subject matter relates to systems and methods to generate a reference plane of a head in a CT image.
CT is a technology that uses X-rays to produce tomographic images (i.e., virtual slices) of a subject (e.g., a head/head-neck region of a human patient). The tomographic slices are then used to generate a three-dimensional (3D) CT image of the head/head-neck region. Such CT images are used extensively for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in various medical disciplines. A reference plane, defined by three or more anatomical landmarks of the head, serves as a platform capable of facilitating such diagnostic and therapeutic applications which require semantic knowledge about any anatomical structure or individual voxel within the CT image. The reference plane enables, for example, a radiologist, a clinician, and the like, to diagnose a subject by encoding information about an anatomical structure at any location in the CT image based on prior knowledge about the location with reference to the reference plane. Current methods for generating reference planes identify the anatomical landmarks based on, for example, local statistical features, active shape models, 3D parametric intensity models, and the like. Such methods cause numerous errors as they fail to account for variations caused by different subjects, different types of CT scanners, asymmetric positioning of the subject in a CT scanner, and the like.
Thus, there is a need for an enhanced system and method for generating a reference plane of head in a CT image.